Designing My Face

I could design the shit out of your living room, but as for my own face: not so much.

BUT! That's all about to change! Maybe!

Susan from House of Brinson and I decided to brave the snowy NYC city streets last week to hit up Bloomingdales and Sephora and try to get ourselves out of our existing make-up ruts.

We each tried on tons of shit, spent approximately a billion dollars, and also got some very cool stuff.

Herewith is my final take:

Bobbi Brown SPF 25 Tinted Moisturizing Balm, $50: and yep...apparently Gwynnie loves it too! Here's the thing: I'm sooo not a foundation girl normally. And, duh, not because I don't need it--I really do. It's just that foundation is always the one thing that makes me think of gross, caked on make-up. Only that's such bullshit these days...cause there's like a billion and one options when it comes to foundation, most of which have fuck all to do with that gross cake-y stuff. We tried Giorgio Armani Face Fabric and felt like it was a bit too yellow. Then we tried the Laura Mercier tinted moisturizer and there was something about it that I just wasn't digging. Finally we ended up with this Bobbi Brown balm. The coverage is still on the lighter end of the spectrum, but it's so creamy and moisturizing, it doesn't feel heavy at all on your skin. I seriously dig it.

Bobbi Brown EXTRA Eye Repair Cream, $65: I have no clue what the "extra" stands for, but holy shit do I need it. I have some scary shit goin on underneath my eyes (dark circles, the beginnings of some scary wrinkles), and this eye cream is supposed to help alleviate that. It's only been about a week or so, but so far so good. Again, it feels super duper moisturizing, and since I need all the damn help I can get, I've been breaking out this mofo twice a day.

Laura Mercier Eye Basics, $24: This is an example of one of those things that I thought sounded totally friggin ridiculous until the chick at the counter tried some on my eyes and I was able to see how it looks. It's mostly a primer for your eye shadow, to ensure that your make-up stays on throughout the day. But also, it kind of just looks great even if you're not wearing eye shadow, cause it just evens out the skin/tone of your eyelids. I had no clue how many visible veins their were in my eyelids until I tried this stuff.

Givenchy Phenom'Eyes Mascara, $29: Do you SEE what the wand on this mascara looks like!? It's like a little cactus ball! It looks kinda crazy, but it's really super cool cause all those little bits allow you to get down deep into your lashes into spots that are harder to reach with a wand...its CRAZY TOWN. You can only get this at Sephora for some reason, so don't bother looking for it anywhere else.

Guerlain Kohl Kajal Eyeliner, $35: I'm not gonna lie, applying this shit is HARD...and I'm not quite used to it yet. However, the effect is pretty dramatic and gorge and it really makes your eyes pop. It's real kohl, so you never have to sharpen it, but you're supposed to apply it to your waterline and that's where shit gets slightly hectic for me (even though the chick at Sephora *did* show me how). Thank gawdz for youtube.

Nars Powder Blush in Orgasm, $26: Ok, true confessions: I first became aware of this blush on Real Housewives, and since then, I've heard everyone talk about it e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e. Do I think naming this shit "orgasm" was a good marketing technique? Hells yes. Do I also think its a fab blush? Affirmative. I normally don't get too excited over blush, but this one is the bomb diggity.

The Balm Shady Lady Vol. 2 Eye Shadow set, $39.50: The packaging of this product kind of embarrasses the shit out of me, but whatevs. I needed some shadows and there were a bunch of great choices here, and the Chanel shadow duos cost like 11 million dollars.

Cover FX Mint Glaze, $22: this is a moisturizing lip primer that also happens to smell minty. The chick at Sephora raved about this like it was the second coming, but I don't quite get it yet. I mean, I like it, but I think I still like my C.O Bigelow Metha Lip Shine, though maybe that's not moisturizing my lips as much?

Philosophy Hope In A Jar to go, $15: I've been on the hunt for a new moisturizer, and I tend to like ones that feel kind of whipped. So the sephora skin chick recommended this one. I wasn't sure about the smell at first, but I got the small travel size and have been testing it out and I kind of dig it.

Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer, $22: I've never really used a concealer consistently so I don't really have much to compare this to. But so far, I'm liking it a lot. I think the Bobbi Brown stuff matches my skin really well, and so it never feels like "too much."

Grand Total = $327.50

Ok, so def a lot of scratch was spent, *but* I was basically starting from nothing since my current make-up collection is pretty much all ready for the ghar-bhazge. And so far, I'm v. happy with all of my new purchases!